'Intimidation!' Olympics regulator gets tongue-lashing at Senate hearing

Democratic and Republican senators alike tore into the World Anti-Doping Agency at a Senate hearing on Tuesday over an ongoing scandal about how they have handled positive banned substances tests in Chinese Olympic athletes, The New York Times reported.

"At a hearing before a subcommittee of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Democratic and Republican lawmakers also signaled their support for the decisions by the Biden and Trump administrations to withhold key funding from the [WADA] over its handling of the positive tests," said the report. Furthermore, "the senators said they supported new legislation that would give the president even more authority to withhold American funding for the regulator."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said of WADA, “All that they have provided are threats, stonewalling and intimidation,” and that U.S. legislators will “not be threatened or silenced for promoting fair play and advocating for clean sport.”

At issue was how WADA tried to squash a U.S. investigation into how the agency swept a Chinese doping scandal under the rug.

"The Times reported that in early 2021, nearly two dozen elite Chinese swimmers tested positive for low levels of a banned prescription heart medication that makes it easier for athletes to recover. At the time, Chinese authorities blamed a contaminated hotel kitchen where the athletes ate, even though they were never able to explain how or why the prescription heart medication made its way into the kitchen. The World Anti-Doping Agency, which is supposed to serve as a backstop when countries fail to properly discipline their athletes, did not sanction the swimmers."

However, after the FBI launched an investigation into this for possible misconduct or violations of U.S. law, key Olympic officials pressured U.S. officials into dropping the probes as a condition for Salt Lake City being awarded a bid to host the games.

“It is shocking that WADA, whom we rely upon to ensure fair competition, not only refuses to be transparent and accountable, but appears to have made unfair demands of a United States city to stymie legitimate federal investigations into its role in the swimmer doping scandal,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

While this particular outrage against the Olympics has been bipartisan, some Republicans have also recently pushed to demand Los Angeles be stripped of the 2028 games and replace it with a host city in a state that voted for President Donald Trump.